In light of the increased degree of cooperation between the US and India in space, India’s space agency is looking into joint ventures with Boeing Co., Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC, and Voyager Space Holdings Inc.
India’s Department of Space stated in a statement on Wednesday that Indian commercial organizations may also be involved in the potential alliances.
During his visit to India this week, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will be stopping by facilities in Bengaluru that are testing and assembling satellites for a joint US-Indian Earth-observing mission that is slated to launch in 2024.Nelson’s visit highlights NASA’s growing space partnership with the Indian Space Research Organization, which has achieved a number of milestones this year, including the August landing of a spacecraft close to the moon’s south pole.
An Indian astronaut will be sent to the International Space Station by the two space agencies early next year. Nelson was present at the June event in Washington, D.C., when India signed the Artemis Accords, an endeavor supported by the United States and including over two dozen other nations to create guidelines for space exploration.
ISRO Chairman S. Somanath told The Times of India in June that Blue Origin is “very keen” to investigate employing an Indian rocket as a crew capsule to serve their projected space station Orbital Reef in low-Earth orbit. According to local media, Blue Origin and Indian engineering equipment company Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Are in preliminary talks to deliver orbital launch capability.
Denver-based In July, Voyager and NewSpace India Ltd., the commercial arm of ISRO, announced a preliminary agreement to investigate the use of Indian rockets for small satellite launch and deployment.
A memorandum of agreement about the use of Gaganyaan, the space agency’s crewed spacecraft now under development, to service Starlab, a prospective space station, was also signed by Voyager in July with ISRO and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center.
According to local media, Boeing is thinking about creating and producing a space capsule simulator for India’s human spaceflight effort, but no deal has been inked yet.
One of India’s next initiatives is the 2025 launch of its first crewed spacecraft carrying astronauts.
The nation Intends to build a new launchpad and a next-generation vehicle to further its lunar goals, with the ultimate aim of landing humans on the moon by 2040. Landing on Mars, launching a Venus orbiter, and building a space station by 2035 are all on ISRO’s list of priorities.